These regulator devices are in particular used to control various hydraulic functions such as setting various receivers in motion that are installed onboard these civil engineering machines.
The invention more particularly relates to a regulator device comprising:
a body provided with two end faces, lower and upper, respectively, and a peripheral face extending between the two end faces, and comprising at least one so-called control cavity emerging on at least one of said faces,
a minimum of a pressure reducer mounted in the body and comprising a control push-piece housed in back and forth motion in the at least one control cavity, said pressure reducer being intended to enable the control of at least one receiver outside the regulator device,
a control member pivoting relative to the body, at least one hinge mounted on the upper face of said body, in order to control the back and forth movement of the at least one control push-piece.
Such regulator devices are well known by those skilled in the art and are for example described in documents FR 2 507 732, FR 2 376 978, FR 2 793 532, FR 2 854 668, FR 2 857 706 and FR 2 835 574.
In these documents, the control member assumes the form of a lever or a handle, which can be actuated manually, extended by a lower shell arranged opposite the upper face of the body of the regulator device; upper face in which the control cavities emerge wherein the control push-pieces are mounted able to move, so that said control push-pieces protrude outside the upper face to abut against the lower shell of the control member. In such designs, the control cavities extend normally opposite the upper face of the body so that, once said body is fastened on a horizontal floor, the control cavities and the control push-pieces extend vertically and the body must have a height adapted to the integration of the pressure reducer. The height of the body leads to a limitation of the height space and a sometimes prohibitive vertical bulk when it involves installing the regulator device in a confined space such as, for example, a cockpit of a civil engineering machine.
Traditionally, the control cavities are made by machining and are generally made in the form of a hole passing all the way through the body in the height direction, between the lower and upper faces. Such an embodiment requires that the control cavities be connected via the lower faces, and therefore that connecting hoses be brought through the horizontal floor on which the regulator device is placed flat, thereby hindering the integration of the hoses and of the entire device on the floor. Alternatively, it is possible to consider providing bores transverse to the control cavities, making the production of the body and its various cavities or pipes more complex.
It is also known to use such regulator devices in foot-operated hydraulic remote controls. In such an application, the control member assumes the form of a tilting pedal, which can be actuated by foot, and arranged opposite the upper face of the body of the regulator device. Such a pedal can be used in civil engineering machines for forward and backward travel controls of the machine, in other words for forward or backward movement or the translation of the machine. As in the aforementioned documents, these regulator devices comprise control cavities and control push-pieces extending vertically with the same drawbacks as mentioned above.
In a known manner, an additional control lever is hinged on one of the ends of the pedal and extends upward to end with a handle that can be manipulated manually in order to add a control for the tilting of the pedal. Such a control lever is used to impose tilting of the pedal from front to back, or vice versa, that is more precise than that obtained directly with the food placed on the pedal, in particular to allow more precise movement of the civil engineering machine.
However, such a control lever represents a mass situated at one of the ends of the pedal, therefore off-center relative to the hinge of the pedal, the inertia of which must be combated using a damper. It is thus known to arrange at least one damper mounted in the body and comprising two damping push-pieces arranged on either side of the hinge of the control member (here the pedal) and housed in back and forth motion in a damping cavity provided in the body, said damper being intended to damp the tilting of the control member in both directions, said control member pushing one of said damping push-pieces when it tilts in one direction, on one hand, and the other of said damping push-pieces when it tilts in the other direction, on the other hand. Thus, this damper is adapted to damp the tilting of the pedal, and in particular the tilts imposed by a control lever during movement of the civil engineering machine.
In a known manner, the damping cavity is generally U-shaped with two vertical portions extending normally opposite the upper face of the body and in which the respective damping push-pieces move, and a central portion forming the connection between the vertical portions and provided with one or several damping pistons. Thus, the damping push-pieces extend normally opposite the upper face of the body so that, once the body is fastened on a horizontal floor, the damping push-pieces extend vertically with the same drawbacks as those mentioned for the control push-pieces. Moreover, such a damping cavity is difficult to produce, at least by simple machining, due to its complex U shape.
Generally, the known regulator devices are too high, requiring hydraulic connections at the lower face of the body, and are complex to produce.